[Ltsp-discuss] ltsp is stuck (Jean-Yves F. Barbier)

[Lee P. <lee...@dr...>]

Has your PXE worked before?  If not, I would recommend following 
instructions for a standalone install;  "apt-get install 
ltsp-server-standalone."
This setup is easier for first-time setup.

Still there may be some tricks to getting tftp to work and there is some 
setting needed for some routers.  I can't remember them exactly; Try 
searching the web for "ltsp tftp| troubleshooting" or "ltsp PXE 
troubleshooting"

Otherwise, if you are like me, and have had LTSP 5 working for several 
months (debian ubuntu 6.10), then lost PXE boot capability.  Perhaps 
restored PXE capability by upgrading the client.
 
I followed instructions posted on 
https://wiki.edubuntu.org/EdubuntuLTSPUpgradeNotes
(see copy below)

NOTE: Before I started this process I logged off all users, made a copy 
of /opt/ltsp (in case of failure), and rebooted the server in case this 
helped to reset any remaining sessions.  Then I upgraded as follows.


        Upgrading the client chroot

    *

      Copy your servers sources.list file into the chroot

       sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/apt/sources.list

    *

      Update the package lists in the chroot

       sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 apt-get update

    *

      Upgrade the packages

       sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 apt-get dist-upgrade

    *

      Make sure the new client Kernel is used for tftpboot

       sudo ltsp-update-kernels

After that procedure your LTSP clients have the most recent packages 
installed

Note for dapper->edgy upgrades local device support for thin clients was 
added, the package for this doesnt get installed on upgrades, so make 
sure to run:

    *

       sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 apt-get install ltspfsd

to install it (also see the EnableLTSP5LocalDevices 
<https://wiki.edubuntu.org/EnableLTSP5LocalDevices> wikipage). Note this 
step is only necessary with the upgrade method, if you follow the 
recommended recreation method below it will be installed automatically.


        Recreating the client chroot (recommended)

    *

      Delete your old LTSP Client chroot

       sudo rm -rf /opt/ltsp/i386

    *

      Create a new LTSP Client chroot

       sudo ltsp-build-client

This will set up a new chroot automatically for you, after the command 
has finished you can just use your Thin Clients as usual.


      Edgy specific steps

In edgy we began to install a default setup and themeing on the thin 
clients, to enable it, make sure your client environment is up to date 
through one of the above procedures and run:

    *

       sudo dpkg-reconfigure -pcritical edubuntu-artwork

Beside the themes it will give you a default configuration with:

    *

      Local device support (please see also the EnableLTSP5LocalDevices
      <https://wiki.edubuntu.org/EnableLTSP5LocalDevices> page)

    *

      Network swapping

    *

      Sound support

    *

      16bit colors to save bandwith

    *

      Centralized logging of the clients to the server

Edgy also installs the bootkernels in an arcitecture specific 
subdirectory. even though the new ltsp-server package brings a new dhcp 
configuration with it that regards this change, it wont get installed if 
you edited this file at any point. Please make sure your 
*/etc/ltsp/dhcpd.conf* has the following parameter for the "filename" 
option:

 filename "/ltsp/i386/pxelinux.0";

And dont forget to restart the dhcp server with:

 sudo /etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart

after making changes to the configuration file.


        Keyboard

If using a keyboard different from english, upgrading to edgy with the 
second method will obviously loose keyboard layout customization, and 
your clients' keyboards will be have the english layout. You will have 
to modify */opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf* adding the line:

 XKBLAYOUT=es

(es is the layout code for spanish, change with you layout)

and you must reboot the clients (not the server).